Good and evil cannot always be generically classified or easily defined.

Good and evil cannot always be generically classified or easily defined, Louise Erdrich argues in her novel LaRose. This is especially true when it comes to human beings. By nature, people are flawed and imperfect even as they strive to be good. Being good is not always easy. Likewise, attempting to determine good from evil is not easy.

The accidental killing of Dusty by Landreaux is seen by readers, and by legal authorities and many others in the novel, as a tragic accident. (Dusty himself later says just this to LaRose.) However, despite the killing being an accident, Landreaux cannot will away his feelings of guilt and moral culpability. He has done a bad thing, and feels as if he has become a bad person. Randall, and others, assure Landreaux that this is not true. Nola...